Nature and Religion

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 30, 1908

Nature and Religion

MANY are coming to believe in nature as a teacher of religion, as a revelation of God and of his will. True it is that God designed that the perfect work of his hands should teach the perfection of his character and glorify his name. But creation as it is to-day, marred by sin, conceals more than it reveals of God's character, goodness, and glory; and can not be considered an adequate teacher of divine truth. It is frequently appealed to, however, as authority to prove doctrines that are condemned by the written Word. Not long since a lecturer of world-wide reputation, in attempting to prove the immortality of the soul, said:—

All nature proclaims that there is another life, and the belief in that other life lends comfort to us. The belief in immortality gives brightness to the somber character of an occasion like this; for we are assured that the congenial spirits who meet and mingle here will hold communion in the world beyond.

There is nothing gained to the Christian by seeking to prove a doctrine from nature which is plainly at variance with the written Word of Him who created all things. It is certain that the marring of creation by sin made it necessary that mankind should have the written Word if men were ever to understand God and his dealings aright.